Gore Touts Candidate In Brevard

Campaign 1996

The Vice President Backed Congressional Hopeful John Byron.

November 1, 1996|By Jim Stratton of The Sentinel Staff

MELBOURNE — Al Gore dropped into Florida on Thursday, lending his weight to a Democratic candidate in a bitterly contested congressional race and urging voters to return Bill Clinton to the White House.

Gore, appearing at Brevard Community College, thundered through his stump speech, telling a raucous crowd of supporters that only he and Clinton represented a ''bridge to the future.''

Several times, he linked Republican challenger Bob Dole with controversial Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, claiming Dole's promise of a 15 percent tax cut would inflate the deficit. Gingrich, in fact, popped up again and again in the vice president's speech - at one point in a Halloween context.

With Gingrich serving as speaker, he said, the United States has a ''haunted house of representatives.''

The crowd of several hundred whooped their approval.

John Byron, a 59-year-old retired submarine captain, is trying to unseat Republican incumbent Dave Weldon in the race for the Space Coast's congressional district.

Weldon has led through much of the race - two weeks ago polls put him up by more than 20 percent - but Byron's campaign is getting a last-minute financial boost. This week, the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO said they were buying some $300,000 worth of TV time to unseat Weldon, R-Palm Bay.

Absent from the rally, though, was any mention of a campaign fracas that Byron has found himself in. Republicans have charged the challenger with accepting an illegal $2,000 contribution from the 2- and 4-year-old sons of a supporter.

Children are allowed to make contributions, but they must do so ''knowingly and willingly.'' Republicans said given the ages of the children, that simply wasn't possible.